1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a vacuum cleaner having an apparatus for giving off a fragrant odor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A general vacuum cleaner draws in dust-laden air from outside, while keeping a nozzle assembly in contact with a surface being cleaned. The drawn air is introduced into a dust separating apparatus housed in the vacuum cleaner, and dust is separated from the air. The clean air is discharged outside the vacuum cleaner body.
While general vacuum cleaners are efficient to clean the air containing dust or contaminant on the surface being cleaned, few destroy bad smells effectively. Therefore, a user conventionally opens the doors or windows to get fresh air into the space being cleaned. If a user wishes to add pleasant odor to a room, he needs to purchase an air freshener separately, and even if he does, it was cumbersome for the user as he has to walk to different places of the room, spraying the air freshener.
Many attempts were made to resolve above mentioned inconvenience, including “Discharge port of a vacuum cleaner” disclosed in Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-0201796. The discharge port of KR20-0201796 mainly includes a discharge port body connected with a discharge pipe of a motor and rotatable on one side of a cleaner main body, a discharge plate rotatably mounted on the discharge port body, and a receptacle engaged with the discharge plate and which accommodates an air freshener therein. However, the above structure has a shortcoming in that substance of the air freshener is blown away in the discharged air from the vacuum cleaner. Even when the vacuum cleaner is not in use, because the substance of the air freshener in the receptacle is apt to dissipate to the air through the discharge plate, replacement is required frequently.
Korean Utility Model Publication No. 10-1999-028949 disclosed an air freshener, which gives off fragrant odor when it is heated by the discharge heat. This solves the problem of the related art of frequent replacement of air freshener because the freshener does not dissipate when the motor is not driven. However, the air freshener dissipates when the vacuum cleaner is stowed in a hot place, or exposed to the sunlight. If the air freshener is used up, it is cumbersome for a user to replace it, because the air freshener is generally placed inside the vacuum cleaner body.
Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-1992-0008680 discloses a vacuum cleaner in which electricity is periodically supplied to a coil according to the driving of the cleaner, and an air path is open by the electricity to allow odor of air freshener to be supplied therethrough. However, this structure requires an increased number of components, and takes space.